There is actually an application that you can submit to make your business/etc. Pokemon free - hospitals for instance are finding this an issue…
https://support.pokemongo.nianticlabs.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=319928
This man moved into an old church and his house became a gym. He said it’s a great way to meet his new neighbors lol.
I liked this piece about how libraries can take advantage of the game: http://galaxybookjockey.■■■■■■■■■■/post/147240001718/everything-librarians-need-to-know-about-pokemon
Our town made a hilarious video about how to stay safe while catching Pokemon in our local parks and posted it all over social media. Our church apparently has several Pokemon and a gym. Glad the town and the church have a sense of humor about it.
My son was a beta tester for this game. He would make comments when we were driving down the street–“there’s a [pokemon character] up ahead. Are we turning left here?” It did not get him outside to hunt the things in our 110 degree+ heat, however; and surprisingly he didn’t bother to get the app when it became available. It sounds kind of fun but the tracking and data collection bothers me. I haven’t tried it–yet. 
I seem to have broken the game already! My screen is frozen, even when I close out the game and come back to it hours later. I guess I’ll remove the app and install it again.
My 21-year-old son and several of his friends were plotting strategy last night, then they headed out in our car to go to Portland to look for Pokemon. There’s nothing of interest in our suburban small town. I warned DS that he doesn’t have much data. I’d better monitor his usage!
A couple of Pokemon’ers were arrested this morning at 2:30am trespassing in our local zoo near the tiger exhibit.
I think this will be a summer fling and come back-to-school, the game will fade.
@MaineLonghorn is this on an iPhone? If so, double-click the round iPhone button. Scroll to find the Pokemon app and swipe up on the app. This really closes the app, rather than just putting it in the background. Then, restart the app. I’ve had to do this a number of times.
I was chatting with my co worker about the game. He says “You want to see the Pokémon App? I will show you the Pokémon App.”
He pulls out his phone ,goes to text messages and shows me three texts from his phone plan provider stating they have gone over their data allotment.
“There is your darn Pokémon App” he said in disgust.
hahah. So glad I don’t have a teenager on my plan.
I guess I don’t want to play anymore…WAAAA!
While it seems like the game would be good for business, we have encountered a flip side to it. Our campus is drop-dead gorgeous, with amazing architecture and artwork. The Pokemon’ers seem to really be drawn to it. It is open for visitors, but we have residents who live on campus (staff and students). Our gates close in early evening, and we have restricted entry after dusk (manned guard booth). The night-time Pokemon’ers are upset that they have been kicked off campus in the wee hours of the night/morning … and they are posting nasty things on social media, as a result. Our PR person had to issue a statement … can’t believe we have a professional PR person addressing Pokemon etiquette! (And I sure hope no one gets hurt while staring at their phone & walking around campus.)
How they are making money off Pokémon: Hint: just agree to our terms…
I started my day with an hour walk in the park at 8 am when it was pleasantly cool. I will probably go out again after dinner since baseball won’t be on. After locating the monuments on my screen, I didn’t look at my phone again until it buzzed to tell me something was in the area. I caught a few Pokemon, gathered a bunch of poke balls, met lots of dog walkers including an old friend that I hadn’t seen for months, really enjoyed being outdoors, and I am looking forward to sharing stories with my son who is on the other side of the country who is playing and can coach me. After breakfast I drove across the city to the gym and worked with my trainer for an hour. I turned on the game to see how active that area of the city is and will plan on walking that neighborhood some day when it gets cooler. (Can you tell that I hate the heat?). I hope that I can stay interested in the game and keep walking. My Fitbit just wasn’t enough to keep me moving.
I saw a wonderful meme going around yesterday. (Paraphrasing): “If you have extra lures (a potion that attracts pokemon for a period of time so they are more abundant in a given area), consider going to a children’s hospital and releasing them there. It’ll bring much joy to kids who are hospitalized and can only catch pokemon from a very limited radius.”
I think it’s a great game! My best friend and I walk about four miles the other day looking for Pokemon. One thing that I really like is that the Pokestops (places where you collect in game items) are often historical sites or public art. I learned a lot about my city and saw sculptures I had never noticed before! I walked down streets that I haven’t been on since I was a little kid, it’s a really nice way to feel connected to your town or city. When my friend and I were walking around multiple people our age came up to us and asked us if we were playing too. We talked about the different Pokemon, which team we’re on, etc. It was cool to meet new people and connect with them
I wonder if this is the Ice Bucket Challenge of 2016 - lots of intense attention for a month or two, then it disappears.
How does the app “know” not to put the characters in the middle of a street or highway, or in a private home? If I see a character in a certain location, does everyone in that area see the same character? (I haven’t played it yet)
You have a radius in which you can capture them. If a pokemon is in a house or street you can easily and safely get it from the sidewalk.
Yes, everyone will see the same pokemon and everyone can catch it once it’s on their screen.
I do think this will be a flash in the pan but we have to remember it’s still in beta. If they expand the things you can do then maybe it’ll last longer.
I hope the servers catch up with the number of people playing. I took a 2 hour walk this morning but lost the connection so I didn’t get “credit” for hatching my egg. All I got was fresh air, exercise, and some quiet time in nature. And another excuse to text my son who coaches me through all of my problems. My diabetes counselor has been nagging me for 19 years to get out and walk. She will be so happy to hear that chasing Pokemon works better than nagging.
Well, I just tried it and I’m decidedly unimpressed.
It’s not intuitive at all to me. It started out with virtual reality and I saw a Pokemon in front of me, so I dragged the Pokeball on top, assuming that that is how I would capture it. Well, after a dozen tries, I figured it out – I had to roll the ball. Where were the directions for that? That’s not intuitive at all, IMO.
Then, the virtual reality disappeared. All it does is show my avatar walking along a street map. There is no setting, no button that I can touch or toggle, that switches it to virtual reality. And there are no Pokemon anywhere in site.
Unless I have missed something, this is a completely user-unfriendly waste of time as far as I’m concerned.
@Pizzagirl, I think you have to be under a certain age for it to be intuitive. My 21-year-old has picked it up quickly - he and his friends have claimed most of our town, however that works. They have gone out several nights in a row and had a blast. But I had the same reaction as you when i tried it!
Today is a bad day to try the game. The servers have repeatedly gone down and different aspects of the game are not working. I remember some of the game from 10-15 years ago when my son played it on his gameboy but I agree that some directions would be helpful. Besides benefitting from the exercise, it is another way to connect with my son across the country; he coaches me when I need to do something new.
My older sis is level 9 and thrilled. I’m level 2. I really am not feeling the love. Strange game to me. D loves it, so will try a bit longer but so far, all it does is eat up battery. Fortunately T-Mobile has free data for a year for this app only.